Angélica María Trejos, Ainhoa Urruzola and Maite Rodríguez have received the 'Beca Universidad de Navarra-Banco Santander', for the realization of postgraduate program in the School Nursing. Trejos and Urrozola are studying the Master's Degree in Palliative Care Nursing, while Rodriguez is a student of the Master's Degree in internship Advanced and management in Nursing.

The scholarship recipients are among the 64 students from Master's Degree who are studying at programs of study at the University of Navarra in 2014-2015. The financial aid, granted by the bank through Santander Universities Spain, covers 35% of the cost of the enrollment of each postgraduate program. Of the postgraduate program students, 47 are new scholarship recipients who have received a total amount of 237,303 euros.

Specialize to better serve patients

Trejos works as a nurse at the San Diego y San Nicolás Foundation in Madrid, a geriatric residency program where they offer a palliative care program,"but not all the residents are in it and they also need specialized care," says the fellow. For this reason, she adds, "as my field of professional development is closely linked to direct care and the last days of these people, I am doing the Master's Degree in Palliative Care Nursing because I want to give 'my grandparents' and their families the best care in this final stage of their lives". The scholarship Santander means "to be doing this postgraduate program, because without it it would not have been possible". 

Urruzola, a nurse at the Hospital Universitario Donostia - Osakidetza in the Basque Country, has also chosen to train in palliative care because "it is where I would like to focus my professional degree program ," she says. At the same time, she assures that"palliative care has always been a pending topic and, with the great financial aid that this scholarship implies, I wanted to go deeper and specialize in it by taking this Master's Degree because it is the only official and exclusive one for nurses".

Rodriguez works in the Clínica Universidad de Navarra and her professional experience has led her to choose to specialize in Advanced internship and management in Nursing. With the course she has taken, she says that her"relationship with patients will change because here they teach us a way of caring based on the patient's needs, teaching them how to live better with their illness, and not just on the mere application of procedures". In addition, "we do a lot of work at research that I will be able to apply to my internship and help to generate knowledge", says the Navarrese. For her, the scholarship Santander, "is an economic support, but also an academic recognition".